Library Journal (c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. 9780593441299 Entertainment journalist Alice Scott thinks that she might be finally getting her big break. She has managed to track down Margaret Ives, the notorious and reclusive media heiress who hasn't been seen in decades, and snag an invite to Margaret's home on a tiny island in Georgia, where she hopes to secure permission to write Margaret's biography. The catch is that Margaret has also invited Pulitzer-winning journalist Hayden Anderson and wants to give both Alice and Hayden one month to make their respective pitches for her book. Neither Alice nor Hayden is thrilled with this arrangement, especially once they realize that Margaret is telling each of them a completely different tale. The ever-present attraction between the two of them doesn't help matters either, as they compete for the chance to write Margaret's story—and wonder if their own can end happily. Readers will love Alice and Hayden's grumpy/sunshine dynamic, and Margaret's life is equally riveting. VERDICT Both longtime Henry (Funny Story) fans and new romance readers will devour this rivals-to-lovers slow burn, one of Henry's best to date. Also good for fans of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid.—Whitney Kramer

Book list From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission. 9780593441299 Journalist Alice Scott has the career-making opportunity of her life: Margaret Ives wants to tell her life story. For the last 30 years, Margaret, heir to an infamously scandalous, tabloid-hounded family, has been a recluse, but through some inspired digging, Alice has tracked Margaret down to Little Crescent Island. However, upon arriving at Margaret’s home, Alice discovers she has some competition, Pulitzer Prize–winning biographer Hayden Anderson. Margaret decides to give both Alice and Hayden one month to meet with and interview her, after which she will decide who will get to share her story with the public. It is a competition Alice needs to win, and she will do whatever it takes to best Hayden, even if the grumpy writer is turning out to be much nicer—and hotter—than she expected. Henry (Funny Story, 2024) continues to burnish her reputation for fashioning sublimely satisfying love stories with another perfectly calibrated, delectably witty tale featuring endearingly quirky, thoughtfully nuanced characters, including the redoubtable Margaret, whose family’s history is deftly relayed in snippets stitched into the story line.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: With lots of media buzz, readers are primed for the latest from best-selling Henry.

Publishers Weekly (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved 9780593441299 What begins as a charming if standard rom-com evolves into a hauntingly beautiful meditation on what makes a life well lived in the latest showstopper from Henry (Funny Story). Thirty-something entertainment journalist Alice Scott jumps at the chance to interview an octogenarian claiming to be the infamous Margaret Ives, descendant of American media royalty and a “Tabloid Princess” of yore. Alice heads to Little Crescent Island, a small coastal Georgia town, with dreams of Margaret’s biography being her big break. She’s not the only one vying for the job, though: Pulitzer winner Hayden Anderson is also in the running. They have a month to each separately interview Margaret then pitch their proposals. But Margaret’s stories don’t quite add up, leading Hayden and Alice toward each other as they search for answers. Flashbacks to Margaret’s glamorous past are threaded throughout the contemporary narrative, offering a candid glimpse into loves and lives lost and serving as a poignant counterpoint to the romance between Hayden and Alice. There’s also plenty of Henry’s trademark wit and even a hint of mystery as the sparring hearts probe the veracity of Margaret’s tales. This is a stunner. Agent: Taylor Haggerty, Root Literary. (Apr.)

Kirkus Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. 9780593441299 Two journalists compete for the chance to write the biography of an aging heiress. Alice Scott works for a pop-culture website, but she hopes writing a biography of Margaret Ives, a reclusive heiress known as the Tabloid Princess, will boost her career to the next level. One problem: Margaret Ives is incredibly hard to track down. Make that two problems: When Alice finally finds her on a small island off the coast of Georgia, another journalist is there, too—Hayden Anderson. They both want this job, and Margaret wants to be sure she can trust the person telling her story, so she proposes an unusual deal. Both Alice and Hayden will stay on the island and work with Margaret for a one-month trial period, after which she’ll decide who gets to write her book. Hayden couldn’t be more different from Alice—while she’s optimistic and friendly, he’s cynical and standoffish. She’s desperately seeking her family’s approval and thinks she can get it by writing a book, and he’s a Pulitzer Prize–winning biographer. The two of them sign ironclad NDAs, but it’s a small island and they can’t help running into each other—and then, against all odds, they even start to like each other. Alice and Hayden’s unlikely attraction is only one of the book’s timelines, however. Although Henry is known as the queen of contemporary romance, here she explores the world of historical fiction as Alice interviews Margaret and learns about her family’s history—going back to the gold rush and the early days of Hollywood—and finally the tragic love story that led her to retreat from the public eye. Alice also begins to unravel her own family history and learns that the stories she’s been telling herself may not have been true after all. Alice and Hayden’s romance is a delightful slow burn and Henry, as always, shines when exploring family drama, but the emphasis here is on Margaret’s past and how it ties into everyone’s future. Both a steamy romance and a moving look at the sacrifices people make for love. Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Publishers Weekly (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved 9781538742051 Thriller writer Baldacci (To Die For) turns to historical fiction with the arresting story of an unlikely trio who come together in 1944 after their lives were transformed by the London Blitz. Charlie Matters, an orphaned, street-smart 13-year-old, lives with his grandmother and uses his wits to survive. After Charlie steals money and a book from widower Ignatius Oliver’s bookshop, he returns everything out of guilt and Oliver befriends him. Molly Wakefield, 15, returns to London after a yearslong evacuation in the countryside to discover that both her parents are missing. She meets Charlie on the street and asks him to guide her to the government office where she believes her father works, but he’s nowhere to be found. Later, while looking for Charlie, Molly meets Oliver, who’s impressed by her maturity and kindness. After Charlie’s grandmother dies and Molly’s home is destroyed by another round of German bombings, Oliver takes in the two teenagers. As the three weather more assaults on the city, the author illustrates the horrors of war and the utter helplessness of citizens in the face of such daunting challenges. Though the novel is marred by an unnecessary and far-fetched plot twist near the end, Baldacci’s strong character work highlights the trio’s courage and tenacity, as do the wrenching depictions of London’s wartime devastation. It’s a touching tale of a found family. Agents: Aaron Priest and Mitch Hoffman, Aaron M. Priest Literary. (Apr.)

Kirkus Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. 9781538742051 Three strangers become friends amid the Nazi bombing of London. In 1944, fierce aerial fighting rages over London as the bombs and rockets continue killing and maiming English civilians. A 13-year-old “East End bloke” navigates the rubble and looks for things to steal. He always wishes for inclement weather so the Jerries won’t bomb them. In the few pieces of clothing he owns, his gran has sewn a label: “The Honorable Charles Elias Matters,” with his address. His parents and grandfather have been killed, and Gran thinks Charlie is going to school every day. Instead, he’s decided to get his education on the street. The well-to-do 15-year-old Molly Wakefield returns from the safety of the countryside to her parents’ London house, but the parents are nowhere to be found, and she meets Charlie as he hides in her yard. Ignatius Oliver runs The Book Keep in Covent Garden, a shop started by his late wife, Imogen. Charlie sneaks in and nicks some money and a book filled with blank pages, imagining he can sell it for the paper, but when he realizes that Ignatius knows where he lives, he tries to return everything. Ignatius catches him, but lets him keep the book, which plays a fateful role when it changes hands again. Before long the three become friends, all sharing common bonds of danger, humanity, and heartbreaking loss. All have their complex stories: Despite her youth, Molly wants to treat the wounded, and she’s good at it; Ignatius is a part-time air warden who’s burdened by a dark secret about himself; and Charlie is party to a foot chase in which one of his mates and a police officer are accidentally killed. Charlie frets that he might hang. Meanwhile, the buzz of the V-1 rocket gives way to the silence of the V-2, and life or death are the devil’s toss of a coin. Baldacci weaves the trio’s lives together seamlessly, even though each comes from a different stratum of society. Hope, excitement, and tragedy will keep rapt readers reaching for their tissues. Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Publishers Weekly (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved 9780778308003 Penner (The London Seance Society) weaves a rousing story of witches, deep sea diving, and family secrets on the Amalfi Coast. In 1821 Positano, Mari DeLuca belongs to a coven who cast spells on the water to protect the town from pirates. Yearning for a new life, she makes plans to flee with a sailor from Boston. Before she can, though, a shipping magnate attempts to kidnap her, hoping to force Mari into using her powers to help his fleet, and she drowns him. In a parallel narrative set two centuries later, nautical archaeologist Haven Ambrose studies shipwrecks on the Amalfi coast while secretly searching for a trove of precious gems her father found before dying of a stroke. When Conrad, another researcher, shows up to take her place, Haven suspects he knows about the treasure. She hires Enzo Rossi, a local dive shop owner, to take her out on the water, and the pair race against Conrad to find the gems. A romantic subplot involving Enzo and Haven feels rushed, especially because it also serves a vehicle for Haven to learn about Mari’s fate and the village’s history of witches, but for the most part Penner keeps the pages turning with cliffhangers and complex characters. The author’s fans will enjoy this adventure. Agent: Stefanie Lieberman, Janklow & Nesbit Assoc. (Apr.)

Book list From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission. 9780778308003 Few know the secrets of Positano, an Italian village marred by shipwrecks and sea witches. Pirates who seek to reap its riches are often thwarted by overwhelming currents and storms off the Amalfi Coast, conjured up by 12 red-haired women with magic in their blood. But their powerful leader, 20-year-old Mari, despises the sea for taking her mother and sister. She dreams of running away with her lover, but these plans are derailed when local merchants discover and plan to exploit her fellow witches. Fast-forward to the modern day, when archaeologist Haven remains skeptical of the so-called Amalfi curse. Then she witnesses a superyacht disappearing with no explanation and decides to study Positano, continuing her late father's research into the village and its treasures. Gliding between past and present, Haven and Mari's alternating perspectives reveal what truly lies beneath the waters of an ancient curse. Penner (The London Séance Society, 2023) concocts a mystical page-turner that will leave readers spellbound. Perfect for fans of female-driven historical fiction and fantasy, with just the right amount of intrigue.

Book list From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission. 9781538759196 Samantha Diaz believes most people are good, and she is going to prove it to grumpy veterinarian Dr. Xavier Rush by raising the funds necessary to provide Pooter, the young kitten she found, with the life-saving surgery the tiny feline needs. Much to Samantha’s surprise, Xavier not only donates to the Pooter fund, but admits he was wrong. Then Xavier turns right around and asks Samantha out on a date. It turns out to be the best date either one of them has ever had, but circumstances are forcing Samantha to move across the country to be with her family. So, what Samantha now wants Xavier to do is not only forget about the most unforgettable night of his life, but to forget about her as well. Jimenez’s (Just for the Summer, 2024) latest soul-satisfying love story spotlights two memorably messy yet all-too relatable protagonists, a couple of totally adorable four-legged characters, and writing imbued with a deliciously wicked sense of humor. Gracefully folded into all this is an insightful and sympathetic take on the challenges and rewards of caring for a loved one with dementia.

Library Journal (c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. 9781538759196 When Samantha brings her new kitten to attractive veterinarian Xavier, their first interaction does not go well. Xavier instantly puts his foot in his mouth but redeems himself at Samantha's next vet visit and asks her out. Unfortunately, after the world's most perfect, never-ending date, Xavier discovers that Samantha is moving across the country the next day. In the midst of dealing with an ongoing family crisis, Samantha tells Xavier to move on and forget her and their one perfect day together, but they both soon find that they can't stop thinking about each other. Well-paced from beginning to end, the book deftly tackles challenges, such as early-onset dementia and caring for a parent, in between sweet and sexy scenes. Samantha and Xavier's story will resonate with anyone who has ever experienced long-distance romance, and secondary characters are so well drawn that they're practically begging for their own books. VERDICT Another winner from Jimenez (Just for the Summer). Readers won't be able to put down this laugh-out-loud funny romance and will be cheering for Samantha and Xavier even when the chips are stacked against them. A must-have for all public libraries.—Whitney Kramer

Publishers Weekly (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved 9781538759196 Love conquers all in this heartwarming contemporary from bestseller Jimenez (Just for the Summer). New cat parent Samantha Diaz and hunky veterinarian Xavier Rush don’t exactly meet cute: he bluntly tells her she has no choice but to put down her rescue kitten, who has a genetic defect, and she calls him an asshole. When the pair happen to reunite, however, he apologizes for his brashness and tells Samantha he admires her commitment to her animals—and her willingness to call him out. This second meeting leads to an elaborate dream date—complete with a UFO-themed escape room—and an undeniable attraction. Unfortunately, their chemistry can’t lead to a relationship, as Samantha’s about to move 2,000 miles away to help care for her mother, who has early onset dementia. Even with all that distance between them, neither can forget their magnetic connection, but being together for real will mean both of them reevaluating their priorities. The author expertly weaves a beautiful budding romance with real-life struggles: elder care, complicated family dynamics, the stress of veterinarian services, and overcoming mental, emotional, and physical childhood trauma. Jimenez knows just how to tug on the heartstrings. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved 9781668078181 English writer Hall serves up twist after twist in her canny U.S. debut, a story of grief, love, and murder set in the Dorset countryside. The year is 1968 and Beth Johnson, wife of gentle sheep farmer Frank, remains shattered by the death of her nine-year-old son, Bobby, in an accident two years earlier. Her first love, Gabriel, a bestselling novelist who grew up wealthy on a nearby estate, returns with his young son, Leo, after separating from his American wife. Beth reconnects with Gabriel, fantasizing about rewinding her life to a simpler time, and she forges a bond with Leo, who reminds her of Bobby. An unreliable narrator, Beth provides a blinkered view of the action, mentioning early on that a farmer has been murdered and someone close to her is on trial for the crime, but neglecting to reveal the identities of these two characters until more than halfway through the narrative. As a result, readers are kept guessing about the precise consequences of Gabriel’s return and the circumstances behind Bobby’s death. Hall makes Beth a fascinatingly complex lead who vacillates between restlessness and contentment, and the other characters’ motivations prove to be different than they seem at first glance. This sharp morality tale will stay with readers. Agent: Hattie Grunewald, Blair Partnership. (Mar.)

Book list From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission. 9781668078181 Hall’s American debut is a beautiful book set in the wilds of the English countryside. One day on the farm, Beth and Frank are working with their sheep when a dog comes out of nowhere, killing three ewes in minutes. Desperate to stop the carnage, Frank shoots the dog, and minutes later, a little boy named Leo arrives, horrified at the death of his pet. Beth is even more horrified, however, because the boy’s father is an old flame from her teenage years, and she never stopped loving him. Thus begins a terrifying chain of events that ends with Frank on trial for murder and the verdict impending. Broken Country is at its heart a novel about love and loss, about selfishness and selflessness, and about the consequences of decisions made for these reasons. Each decision is driven by the one before it, and Beth, especially, is stretched to her breaking point. Both aching and thrilling, Broken Country is a masterful book by an accomplished author.

Kirkus Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. 9781668078181 Unchecked passion gives rise to tragedy in a small English farming community in the late 1960s. In 1968, bookish Beth Johnson adores being a farmer’s wife. Though she is not a poet, as she once dreamed, her life laboring in commune with nature is one “where every single day is a different kind of education.” She feels satisfied, especially as she gets to share her moments of rest with her husband, Frank, a reliable and compassionate man, and their close-knit network of family and friends. And yet, there is a seeping wound in their busy life: the loss of their 9-year-old son, Bobby, who died in an accident two years before. When Beth’s first love, Gabriel, unexpectedly moves back to town with his son, Leo, a boy just a bit older than Bobby who is desperately seeking a mother figure, Beth and the reader are blown back to “before”: 1955, before Beth knew what it was to love or to grieve. In addition, Hall intersperses scenes set at a 1969 murder trial so that, though she intentionally obscures the identities of the victim and the suspect until the climax, death crouches over the entire novel. As we watch Beth and Gabriel fall toward one another in two timelines, we are painfully aware that heartbreak is imminent in each. One would think it would be hard to shake this feeling of doom, especially since Hall also makes it clear that Beth will break her commitment to Frank early on, but her prose is so transportive that it’s impossible not to hang on and hold out hope for Beth, Frank, Gabriel, and the people they love. There are several standout scenes, but an especially stunning one comes when Frank’s brother, Jimmy, helps Beth deliver Bobby on the kitchen floor during a violent storm. Indeed, every scene that includes Bobby is touching, especially those that highlight his connection with the land—the characteristic Beth most prizes in Frank and is proud to have found within herself. Crystallized in Beth’s memory as a “boy reaching back to his ancestors through these lumpy green fields, to the sounds and sights, the taste, the touch of a thousand years,” he is without time, like love and loss. An elegantly written historical novel with a compelling love triangle and a couple of clever twists. Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Publishers Weekly (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved 9780593799185 From chaotic bloodshed emerges a coherent struggle for freedom in this sweeping second volume of Pulitzer winner Atkinson’s Revolution Trilogy (after The British Are Coming). He recaps the war’s muddled middle years, focusing on three inept British campaigns: Gen. John Burgoyne’s 1777 expedition down the Hudson River from Canada, which ended with a humiliating surrender at Saratoga that emboldened the French to ally with America; Gen. William Howe’s 1778 defeat of George Washington’s Continental Army and occupation of Philadelphia, which the British then fecklessly abandoned; and British efforts to capture Savannah and Charleston in futile hopes of galvanizing Loyalist support. Atkinson also tracks international developments, following Benjamin Franklin’s sly diplomacy in Paris and escalating tension between Britain and France. Through vivid battle scenes (“Ghostly, muddy figures illuminated by British muzzle flashes... began climbing... their bayonets pricking the night”) and complex portraits of key figures (from Washington—a paragon of honor but also a consummate spin-doctor—to neurotic British commander-in-chief Henry Clinton, who repeatedly begged to be relieved of command), Atkinson distills a larger interpretation: though the British were winning more battles, they were losing the ideological war, partly due to the Patriots’ brutal suppression of Loyalists and America’s already robust tradition of self-governance, but also because the fight for liberty inspired passionate solidarity abroad. Epic in scale but rich in detail, this captures the drama and world-historical significance of the revolution. (Apr.)

Book list From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission. 9780593799185 In The Fate of the Day, the second volume of a trilogy covering the fledgling nation’s quest for independence, acclaimed author Atkinson (The British Are Coming, 2019) provides a riveting narrative covering the middle years of the American Revolution. In typical Atkinson fashion, this work provides a vast amount of substance supported by an equal amount of research to provide an exhaustive chronicle of the years that helped shape the Revolution. The American-British fight for the Americas was influenced by a wide array of characters often overlooked in the vast amount of historical works, including personalities like Charles Gravier, Count of Vergennes; John Montagu, the fourth Earl of Sandwich; and scholar Edward Gibbon, coupled with the likes of better-known participants like Lafayette, Washington, Howe, and Franklin. This work is not only an entertaining story, but more importantly, a comprehensive addition to a well-studied period of history. For readers of American history, this is a must-have volume to complete an already vast library covering the fight for democracy some 250 years in the past.

Kirkus Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. 9780593799185 The Revolutionary War enters its most desperate phase in the second volume of Atkinson’s trilogy. To read this book by prolific military historian Atkinson is to see the Revolutionary War as both a civil war—loyalists against rebels, with a sizable number of uncommitted colonists in between—and an international war involving numerous European powers. Indeed, Atkinson’s book opens in France, where two nobles, Baron Johann de Kalb and Gilbert du Motier, a.k.a. the Marquis de Lafayette, are surreptitiously making their way to a boat to America, where both have been recruited to join the Continental Army at high rank. Atkinson then shifts the scene to the frontier: to Ticonderoga, where Continentals were routed twice, and to a farm settlement where British-allied Indians infamously scalped a young woman—ironically, engaged to a loyalist officer—while she was still alive, whipping up a furiously vengeful response: “Newspaper accounts of the atrocity, published over the coming weeks…fueled American contempt for the British and rage at the Indians.” Atkinson thoughtfully appraises some of the principal figures in the conflict, including British General John Burgoyne, immensely popular with his troops and insistent on recruiting Irish Catholics, “traditionally excluded from the army.” (Toward the close of his book, Atkinson writes of anti-Catholic riots in London that in the end were quashed with military force.) As for George Washington, having survived disastrous defeats and the hard winter at Valley Forge, Atkinson concludes that “in an era of great men, he already was in the front rank.” Between vivid accounts of engagements such as the crushing Continental defeat at Charleston, Atkinson looks at the practical facts of the war, including the heavy casualty rate the British suffered in trying to retain their colonies for an adamant King George III—for, as Atkinson rightly asks, “Without America, would Britain even have an empire?” As ever with Atkinson, an exemplary work of narrative history. Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Kirkus Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. 9781250383532 The popular actor’s account of survival and recovery after a near-fatal snowplow accident. On New Year’s Day 2023, film and television actor Renner (Mayor of Kingstown) was nearly killed when his 14,000-pound snowplow ran over him. He had been clearing snow at his Lake Tahoe retreat following a major storm, helping his nephew Alex carve a path through the drifts. When the plow began to roll toward Alex—after Renner had exited without engaging the emergency brake—he leapt in to stop it, only to be pulled under its treads himself. In his emotionally charged memoir, he recounts the harrowing moments of being crushed, the life-threatening injuries—including dozens of broken bones—and how he stayed conscious while awaiting emergency care by focusing on deep breathing techniques he’d learned as a teenager assisting his mother during Lamaze classes. The incident led to months of surgeries and painful rehabilitation before he could walk again, first with a cane and eventually unaided, later allowing him to return to theKingstown set, though not without lingering medical issues. Relying on his inner strength and resilience, Renner casts the experience as a crucible—transforming personal catastrophe into a story of renewal, service, and self-discovery. It’s a familiar arc in celebrity memoirs, and one Renner leans into heavily. Much of the content has already surfaced in interviews and a prominentMen’s Health cover story, though the slim volume offers a more deliberately shaped emotional journey. While genuinely uplifting at times, the memoir also feels like a managed effort to reframe survival as a form of personal and professional reinvention. “I am finally in the right place in my life; what happened that day, and the aftermath, served to redirect me into my life’s purpose. But the incident didn’t change me as much as it changed my role in my neighborhood, my city, the world.” A sincere narrative of survival and self-reinvention. Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Kirkus Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. 9780593597408 To be young, gifted, and Black; to raise a musical prodigy; to be a force for good: Beyoncé’s mother tells her story. Knowles, born Celestine Ann Beyoncé, known as Badass Tenie B in her youth, begins her immersive and inspiring memoir with her childhood on Galveston Island, the youngest child of Creole longshoreman Lumis Beyuince and his wife, Agnes Derouen, a brilliant seamstress. She and her six siblings each have different spellings of their last name, but as her mother explained, when she tried to correct the registrar she was told to be happy that she was even getting a birth certificate, a relatively new development for Black people. This is one of the lesser indignities inflicted by systemic racism on what could have been an idyllic seaside childhood in the 1950s and ’60s—instead, police officers almost killed her handsome high school football player brother and went on to target the family. The storytelling style established in this portion of the book is first class: One can both hear Tina’s real voice and imagine that O’Leary, her credited collaborator, knew a thing or two about what makes a great memoir. A story about being forced by the nuns at her draconian Catholic school to give up her beautiful handmade white dress and her role in a ceremony to another little girl becomes the genesis of one of the central tenets of her life and of the moral code she sought to transmit to her children, Beyoncé, Solange, and “bonus daughter” Kelly Rowland (whom she co-parented with Rowland’s biological mom). Fascinating subplots abound: her own early musical career; her rollercoaster history with her first husband, Mathew Knowles; her relationship with her gay nephew and best friend Johnny (son of her much-older sister Selena), with whom she honed her craft as a clothing designer and stylist; how her shy little daughter revealed her leviathan talents and became an iconic star; and the ongoing operation of racism, for example in the record company’s blundering treatment of Destiny’s Child. A great story of a singular American life. Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Publishers Weekly (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved 9781668023488 In this probing treatise, New York Times columnist Klein (Why We’re Polarized) and Atlantic staff writer Thompson (Hit Makers) explore the legislative bottlenecks hampering progress on housing, infrastructure, and clean energy, among other pressing issues. Zooming in on San Francisco to explore the nation’s housing crisis, the authors explain how onerous zoning restrictions limiting the number of units developers can build per lot constrain housing supply growth, while a law requiring the government to prioritize small businesses when granting contracts means developers must wait until one of the few qualifying companies has availability. Effective governance necessitates cutting through red tape when it proves overly prohibitive, Klein and Thompson contend, citing how Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro restored a collapsed section of I-95 in 12 days, instead of the many months initially expected, by issuing a declaration of emergency that enabled the state to waive such time-consuming requirements as a bidding process and environmental impact statement. Elsewhere, the authors lament how caps on H-1B visas are limiting immigration of the highly skilled foreign scientists and mathematicians who have historically helped drive American innovation. Klein and Thompson are, by their own admission, more interested in diagnosing problems than outlining solutions, and while this feels like a bit of a cop-out, the remarkably unstuffy discussions offer as lucid an explanation of contemporary legislative quandaries as readers are likely to find. Policy wonks will rejoice. (Mar.)

Kirkus Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. 9781668023488 Helping liberals get out of their own way. Klein, aNew York Times columnist, and Thompson, anAtlantic staffer, lean to the left, but they aren’t interrogating the usual suspects. Aware that many conservatives have no interest in their opinions, the authors target their own side’s “pathologies.” Why do red states greenlight the kind of renewable energy projects that often languish in blue states? Why does liberal California have the nation’s most severe homelessness and housing affordability crises? One big reason: Liberal leadership has ensnared itself in a web of well-intentioned yet often onerous “goals, standards, and rules.” This “procedural kludge,” partially shaped by lawyers who pioneered a “democracy by lawsuit” strategy in the 1960s, threatens to stymie key breakthroughs. Consider the anti-pollution laws passed after World War II. In the decades since, homeowners’ groups in liberal locales have cited such statutes in lawsuits meant to stop new affordable housing. Today, these laws “block the clean energy projects” required to tackle climate change. Nuclear energy is “inarguably safer” than the fossil fuel variety, but because Washington doesn’t always “properly weigh risk,” it almost never builds new reactors. Meanwhile, technologies that may cure disease or slash the carbon footprint of cement production benefit from government support, but too often the grant process “rewards caution and punishes outsider thinking.” The authors call this style of governing “everything-bagel liberalism,” so named because of its many government mandates. Instead, they envision “a politics of abundance” that would remake travel, work, and health. This won’t happen without “changing the processes that make building and inventing so hard.” It’s time, then, to scrutinize everything from municipal zoning regulations to the paperwork requirements for scientists getting federal funding. The authors’ debut as a duo is very smart and eminently useful. Cogent, well-timed ideas for meeting today’s biggest challenges. Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Book list From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission. 9780593655030 Portable telephones were originally celebrated as a way to stay connected to friends and family. But in the early 2010s, with the onset of smartphones and their easy access to the internet, children’s brains were being effectively rewired, shifting from "play-based" to "phone-based." Parents, who worked to keep their children safe from outdoor play and predators, now allowed their kids to stroll unfettered through the internet. Excessive phone use can lead to social deprivation, sleep deprivation, attention fragmentation, and addiction. For young women, Haidt writes, it can lead to depression; for young men, it can lead to existing in their own separate realities. The author admits to some benefits of online use for children, including lower rates of injury and alcohol use and a measure of intellectual stimulation, but the pluses are overshadowed by the loss of social interactions and life experiences. Academic Haidt (The Coddling of the American Mind, 2018) backs up his claims with scientific studies and graphics, and presents plans to limit the effects of smartphones by large tech companies, schools, and parents. This is a practical look at a vital topic.

Publishers Weekly (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved 9781250347466 Data Over Dogma podcaster McClellan debuts with a smart and historically grounded look at what scripture says about some of Christianity’s most provocative questions. Drawing on the text and canonical sources, he unpacks the origins of what he argues are misconstrued symbols (the number 666 does not signify “the mark of the beast” but is more likely code for Roman emperor Nero, an infamous “persecutor of early Christians” around the time the number first appeared in scripture); debunks literalist readings (while the book of Proverbs supports corporal punishment for children, the practice should be considered a relic of the ancient world); and unravels the nuances of hot-button issues, arguing, for example, that the Bible does not condemn homosexuality because “the concept of sexual orientation” didn’t exist in ancient times—though it does prohibit same-sex intercourse. In the process, he perceptively examines how biblical tenets have been skewed or exploited by some believers to cloak their innate prejudices, which then become “identity markers” used to justify “authoritarianism and social dominance.” Combining fine-grained textual analysis with enlightening historical context, this is a valuable resource. (Apr.)

Library Journal (c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. 9781250347466 Independent religion scholar McClellan draws from his popular TikTok account and expands upon it in this work, answering common questions many may have when discussing what the Bible actually says about a range of current issues. He starts each chapter with a summary of a viral video addressing the question at hand, and, with faith-based skepticism and a hint of irreverence, tackles what that video gets wrong or right about the text of the Bible. He explains how he reaches his conclusions, highlighting a variety of translations and Hebrew and Greek word studies to dissect and show his perspectives, referencing many other biblical scholars and their work, and pivoting away from how the Bible has been weaponized against marginalized groups. VERDICT At times it can be difficult to determine the audience McClellan hopes to reach, as the book's chapters vary in length and depth, leaving some readers to find it too verbose. The work will best serves readers hoping to resolve specific issues with how the Bible is used in arguments and defenses of particular beliefs.—Amanda Ray

Book list From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission. 9780525426059 Celebrated YA novelist Green's second nonfiction title for adults, following The Anthropocene Reviewed (2021), is a passionate book about tuberculosis, which is “listed in Guinness World Records as the oldest contagious disease.” In the last 200 years, over a billion people have died from it; between one-fourth and one-third of all living humans have been infected with it. These staggering statistics and more haunt Green's excellent book, which began with a trip to Sierra Leone in 2019 and a visit to Lakka, a tuberculosis hospital where Green met Henry Reider, a 17-year-old infected with TB. Henry becomes for readers the face of TB as Green periodically charts his condition in these pages. When Green returned home from Sierra Leone, he became obsessed with TB: “I simply could not shut up about the disease.” This important book is evidence of that. Green writes expertly of the illness’s history, causes (malnutrition, poverty, bad sanitation, etc.), and cure—and of Henry’s miraculous recovery. Insightful and extremely well and clearly written, Everything Is Tuberculosis makes what might be inaccessible accessible. In the end, Green says that his book exists only because he met Henry, and readers will be so grateful he did.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Every book from John Green is a big deal, and the important topic and global implications of this one ensure it will make major waves.

Kirkus Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. 9780525426059 A bestselling author uses his platform to tell the story of a curable disease that kills over a million people a year. In a postscript that is essentially a sweet apologia, Green explains, “If you’d told me whenThe Fault in Our Stars was published that a decade later, I’d be writing and thinking almost exclusively about tuberculosis, I would have responded, ‘Is that still a thing?’” Many readers likely remain under the same illusion. But after Green met a very sick boy named Henry Reider on a trip to Sierra Leone in 2019, he decided to apply himself to the task of learning and sharing every single thing there is to know about tuberculosis, ultimately understanding that the disease still exists due to racism, greed, and the brutal economics of public health, concluding in part that “TB is both a form and expression of injustice.” He parcels out the frightening story of what happened to Henry bit by bit through chapters that also recount the long, strange history of the disease. Once known as consumption and romanticized through association with artists and writers who died of it, for centuries TB was treated with a variety of utterly ineffective approaches in sanatoriums and elsewhere. A young American woman who had been confined in one such institution since the age of 3 was treated with some of the first doses of streptomycin when it became available in the 1940s—and emerged back into the world of the living at 16. Along with interesting accounts of historical figures and current patients, Green explores the financial aspects of treatment and the practices of the pharmaceutical industry, bringing home the shameful truth of the situation. In all, his “curious megaphone”—his phrase for the access he has to a wide audience due to his literary stardom—has been put to good use. This highly readable call to action could not be more timely. Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

School Library Journal (c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. 9780525426059 An enlightening exploration of the history and present-day reality of tuberculosis around the world. This narrative nonfiction title follows the journey of one TB patient, Henry, and his life and treatment in Sierra Leone while simultaneously shedding light on the battle against tuberculosis in impoverished countries. While tuberculosis is considered history to many, Green shares the alarming fact that due to many factors beyond the control of sufferers, over a million people die each year because they don't have access to the best possible treatments and diagnostic testing. Green skillfully sparks readers' curiosity within the first pages by discussing the number of deaths TB has caused in recent years and explains, "We know how to live in a world without tuberculosis. But we choose not to live in that world." Readers will be shocked to hear the impact TB still has around the world when in places like the U.S., most people think tuberculosis is a part of the past. Henry's story is hopeful and heartbreaking; readers will be rooting for him and his family the whole way through. The author includes much about his relationship with Henry, but also of his own life experiences with medications, OCD, and his treatment of orbital cellulitis which contributes helpful comparisons to the narrative. While medical nonfiction titles can be difficult for the average reader, Green explains ideas and terminology simply to ensure comprehension for readers. VERDICT This is a thought-provoking work and highly recommended for high school collections.—Lisa Buffi